World Open 2013 - Discussion

[DeanH]

loved it when Neal and Jill "corpsed" this morning about Clive with his sleeve in the curry story... I noticed that when they went back to Clive he did not mention it at all

[armstm]

i wonder what allen's pot % was. i can recall him missing an acute black and a tricky long red over 8 frames, that's it. i would guess 97-98%. it was up there with ronnie at the masters in 2005.

[Maloy]

I think Eren Williams was just too arrogant to accept corrections from chinese marksman. Can't beleive they couldn't chek the picture of original position on the screen (like was shown on Eurosport). And one more thing: when player playing from snooker I personally think it's top of incompetence to not remember which ball block the way to red and more or less position of other balls on the way. By the way, he insist that yellow didn't move! Sorry, you couldn't remember black-brown position, but you have seen that yellow wasn't moved... Seems like Mr. Williams overestimate his abilities and was too relaxed, feeling "everything under control".

[SouthPaw]

C'mon the Pistol! That is all lol...

[Billy]

Not sure if this has been discussed but just want to say I think Neil Foulds is doing a great job.
I really like his comments and knowledge and he says whats on his mind unlike some.

Agreed. Foulds was a great addition to the BBC team and I only hope his stint over at itv4 during this tournament doesn't mean we've seen/heard the last of him at the BBC tournies.

As for itv themselves... I suppose we should say well done for picking this up, but I don't know why they're bothering when you look at how little of it they're showing.

[Looki]

these tournament discussion threads are pure comedy gold - can't help but laugh whenever you look at the predictions made on here on a timeline.

"Higgins looks too strong for anyone this week! Impressive start"

3 hours later....

"(Allen)'s got everything and if he is playing like that tomorrow, it will be an easy win for him

p.s. that's still better than the OP though, he couldn't hit an elephant with a dart from 5 ft away

Still much better read than an asperger posting the same thing all over again.

[SnookerFan]

loved it when Neal and Jill "corpsed" this morning about Clive with his sleeve in the curry story... I noticed that when they went back to Clive he did not mention it at all

It wasn't even that funny a story, and they were falling all over themselves like it was the most humerous story in the world. Didn't Neal even apologise for telling the story?

Nice to see presenters acting like humans, rather than sticking to the 'be professional' rule.

[Billy]

It wasn't even that funny a story, and they were falling all over themselves like it was the most humerous story in the world. Didn't Neal even apologise for telling the story?

Nice to see presenters acting like humans, rather than sticking to the 'be professional' rule.

Wish I'd seen this. Anyone know if a clip exists?

[Odrl]

Right, I'm in the mood to throw some darts around... :biggrin:

It promises to be an interesting final tomorrow... It's similar to last year in a way. Mark Allen is here again, this time not hoping to win his first ranking title, but hoping to get the first major result of his season so far, after playing second fiddle to some of the other top players. Stevens is also in a similar position to Lee last year, a player of the older generation getting to a final after quite a while, looking to win his first major title in a decade.

Looking at how both players have played throughout the tournament, Allen surely has to be favourite. He wasn't happy with his performance early on, but he still won all of his matches comfortably, only losing seven frames in the whole tournament so far. His demolition of John Higgins in the semi-finals was one of the most impressive of the season so far, particularly as Higgins himself did the same to Ding the previous day. Allen is extremely hard to stop after he gets into a scoring rhythm like that. He just refuses to miss, and he doesn't really struggle to get over the line. He also doesn't have a history of losing big leads, last year's final seemed pretty much over as early as the 4th or 5th frame. He is also strong from behind, never really losing the will to fight, which makes him very tough to beat, especially when he combines it with a bit of form. He has never had a problem raising his game for the big occasion, so I expect him to be up for it from the first shot tomorrow.

Stevens hasn't had it as easy. He was involved in a real battle in every one of his matches, always going to the decider or within a frame of it. He is usually a master of losing that type of matches, and while we've seen a bit of that from him this week, he has also stepped it up when he has needed to, playing a strong last frame against both Trump and Robertson. He hasn't really scored all that well this week, a couple of handy 50 breaks here and there, but it's rarely been one-visit stuff. He might need some of it if he is to win this title, unless the match goes a bit nervy and scrappy. He hasn't played in a ranking final since the 2008 Bahrain Championship (a tournament also featuring Robertson and Allen in the semis), more than four years ago, so it might take a while to get that feeling back.

Stevens has one of the least impressive records in ranking finals of any top player, so he is second favourite almost by default. But looking at some of his previous losses, he got within two frames of winning the title almost every time, so he knows how to fight for it, and I think he probably won't be outclassed tomorrow either. That said, I think Allen is the better player at this point in time, in firepower as well as mental strength, so I expect him to be a couple of frames stronger. There isn't much history between the two, although that 1st round match at the 2011 World Championship immediately springs to mind, Allen coming back to win the decider with his kid watching in the front row. If tomorrow's match is anywhere near as exciting as that, it will be a good day. Allen to win 10-7. :wink:

Four hours of sleep, then it's snooker time!

[SnookerFan]

Anybody got up to watch the final?

[SnookerFan]

Wish I'd seen this. Anyone know if a clip exists?

I'm not sure. Is yesterday's play available to watch on the ITV website?

[PatBlock]

Anybody got up to watch the final?

Yeah looking forward to it, hoping for a good match preferably with a win for Mat. Good start so far 38 and counting...

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[arbitrage]

Meh, believe it or not, he ruins nothing but his own life by being bitter and petty with everyone I enjoyed that game whatever.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...the-blame-game

i found your predictions quite funny to be honest - nothing beats a morning chuckle

[Gerry Armstrong]

Allen is flying!! Could be a very short evening session unless Stevens finds his potting boots very soon.

[Odrl]

This is becoming dangerous for Stevens. A couple of mistakes already, and Allen is taking advantage. A scrappy start, but Allen seems to have found his scoring rhythm pretty quickly. Stevens badly needs the 4th frame... :wink: